


A New Plan

by loves_books



Category: The A-Team (2010), The A-Team - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 22:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11000580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loves_books/pseuds/loves_books
Summary: There was no question of Face being able to stay in the Rangers, of course, his medical discharge simply a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. No decent commander would ever take the risk of putting him on a team. Hannibal certainly wouldn’t risk it, even if the soldier in question wasn’t the man he loved more than life itself.





	A New Plan

“The army’s all I know.” Face’s whispered words sounded so bleak and hopeless that Hannibal could only pull him into a tighter embrace, cradling Face’s head against his chest, his heart breaking for his lover even as a new plan started to slowly take shape. “What am I supposed to do now?”

There was no question of Face being able to stay in the Rangers, of course, his medical discharge simply a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. Given time, the doctors were confident that they could easily control his condition with medication on a day-to-day basis, but that medication wouldn’t be reliable out in the field, and no decent commander would ever take the risk of putting him on a team. Hannibal certainly wouldn’t risk it, even if the soldier in question wasn’t the man he loved more than life itself.

“We’ll work it out,” he told his boy, for what felt like the thousandth time since this nightmare had started, but Face shook his head.

“I won’t take a desk job. I can’t. Don’t ask me to do that.”

No, Hannibal didn’t think Face would do at all well behind a desk, and he would never have suggested it. There were other options though, even if Face couldn’t see them yet. Wasn’t ready to see them yet, clearly still lost in his own personal hell of pain and misery, mixed with a touch of depression. Hannibal found he couldn’t blame him for feeling that way. 

As if on cue, Face suddenly stiffened in Hannibal’s arms, his breath starting to come in short gasps as a fine trembling spread rapidly through all his muscles.

Hannibal squeezed his own eyes shut, moving one hand swiftly up to cup the back of his lover’s head, keeping Face steady and safe against his chest as the seizure took a firmer hold. It was already growing less shocking each time this happened, though no less painful for Hannibal to witness. He could only imagine what it felt like for Face.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, counting the seconds automatically in his head while Face continued to shake and gasp. “I’m right here, baby. I’ve got you and I won’t let you go.”

It had been such a simple thing. A knock to the head, little more than a bump, just a glancing blow from flying shrapnel as a wall fell. It hadn’t even slowed Face down at the time, and he certainly hadn’t seemed concussed to Hannibal’s eyes, though he had been bleeding from a thin, jagged cut on his left temple. Goodness knew they’d all had more than their fair share of knocks and bumps to the head over the years. Too many, perhaps.

Face had suffered his first seizure less than half an hour later, falling abruptly to the ground in the middle of a gunfight, so suddenly that Hannibal had been utterly convinced his lover had been shot and killed. Two more seizures had followed before they’d managed to get him back to the FOB and the waiting medical team, with Face groggy and confused, Murdock and BA panicked but focussed, and Hannibal fighting to stay professional. 

After more than a dozen scans and x-rays, the doctors still hadn’t really known exactly why it was happening. They’d been sent to specialist after specialist, both military and civilian, and still no one could offer them a definitive answer, though there were many possibilities. Without knowing the exact cause, they didn’t know how to fix it. It was just one of those things, they kept saying apologetically. One bump to the head too many. One flying piece of rock, and Face’s whole world had been destroyed, leaving Hannibal helpless to do more than keep watch and be there to hold him when he shook.

It rarely lasted more than a minute. More than two minutes and Hannibal was supposed to call for an ambulance, just in case.

Thirty nine, forty, forty one…

The exact details of his new plan were still forming, but it had been an easy decision for Hannibal to start by retiring from the army himself, not wanting to carry on in the Rangers for even a day without Face right by his side where he belonged. There was no possible way for him to survive away from the younger man for long, not after he’d gladly handed over his heart and soul so many years ago, even if Face wasn’t injured. 

He had savings and investments enough to buy them some time. Time to get Face’s seizures properly under control, time to deal with the meltdown he knew was coming, and time for them both to come up with a new plan for the rest of their lives.

Sixty seconds, and still Face shook, his tremors seeming to actually increase in strength. “I love you so much,” Hannibal said out loud, though he knew his lover couldn’t hear him. It was a small blessing, that Face fell completely unconscious during the seizures, rather than being awake and aware but trapped in an uncooperative body. “We’ll make it through this, you and me. You’ll make it through this. You’re more than strong enough, I know you are. And I’ll never leave you.”

Hannibal hadn’t told Face about his retirement yet, but he’d already submitted his papers to the general, relieved that his request had been unofficially approved almost immediately. If he told Face about his decision now, Hannibal knew that Face would refuse to accept it. He would be angry and hurt at what he would see as Hannibal overreacting to the whole situation. He would think Hannibal felt guilty, or felt he had to play nursemaid, when really Hannibal saw it as a selfish move on his part. 

No, retirement would be one more thing that Hannibal’s boy wasn’t ready to hear about, not quite yet. Soon, though. Hopefully.

One minute ten, one minute eleven, one minute twelve…

And finally Face’s shaking seemed to start to ease, stopping completely just as Hannibal counted two minutes exactly. His tense body fell limp against Hannibal, the breath leaving his lungs in a sudden sigh as all his muscles relaxed, and Hannibal slipped two fingers carefully onto his lover’s neck to check his pulse, relieved to find it strong and steady. His kissed the top of Face’s head very gently, prepared to wait as long as it took for Face to drift back to him.

They’d work it all out, somehow, and they would form their new plan together. Face would make it through this, with Hannibal’s endless love and support. He would take his medication and the two of them would face whatever came next standing side by side; Hannibal wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from Panda77777:
> 
> Just simply after a head injury Face begins to suffer from seizures and Hannibal plans for their future.


End file.
